Pursuit Suspect Displays Assault-Type Rifle in Standoff With LAPD

A man who led cops on a car chase throughout L.A. got out of a car and displayed an assault-type rifle on the roof of a North Hollywood home as he stood off with police today, authorities said.

Two or three schools in the area of 11600 Hartsook Street, including North Hollywood High School and Oakwood secondary school, were on lockdown, LAPD Officer Wendy Reyes told us. The suspect was wanted for allegedly making criminal threats on the Eastside, she said.

The original morning incident did not involve that rifle, she said, but late in the pursuit a man waived such a weapon out the window of the car being chased, according to reports:

It all started about 10:15 a.m. somewhere in the LAPD's Hollenbeck Division area, which serves the Eastside, Reyes said. The exact location was not available.

Officers arriving to a report of criminal threats came across a suspect who fled in a burgundy Nissan Maxima, she said.

A suspect led cops on a chase to the San Gabriel Valley, downtown, Burbank, the San Fernando Valley and, ultimately, North Hollywood, according to television news coverage.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Denise Joslin told us the CHP assisted with the pursuit 11:14 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. She said the CHP first heard about the chase at 10:47 a.m. as the suspect vehicle was headed east on the 10, east of the 710 freeway, in the San Gabriel Valley.

At one point the suspect waived the assault-type rifle outside the vehicle's window, according to NBC Los Angeles.

That was shortly before the suspect stopped, got out of the car, and moved briskly through the neighborhood in the 11600 Hartsook Street, according to news coverage.

He went through a few backyards and hopped across rooftops. For a while he stood on the roof of a home or its garage or pool house, leaning on the rifle as if it were a cane.

He disappeared after that and might have been barricaded inside a home. The LAPD's SWAT team was called out, Reyes said, and it appeared to be setting up this afternoon.

Police said that folks in the neighborhood, between Magnolia Boulevard and Otsego Street, Colfax Avenue and Irvine AvenueTujunga Avenue, should stay indoors and lock all doors and windows.

[Update at 1:22 p.m.]: Police this afternoon said they believe the suspect is holed up inside a house.

The man is about 40-years-old and was the subject of an arrest warrant for allegedly making criminal threats when police came across him this morning, said LAPD officials.

Because he allegedly pointed his rifle at police multiple times - cops are still trying to figure out if he pulled the trigger - the suspect would be booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, LAPD Commander Andrew Smith told reporters.

A few days ago a woman called authorities to complain that the suspect had made criminal threats, police said. The warrant was issued after that, and cops are referring to the case as "domestic."

[Update at 3:05 p.m.]: Following the sound of explosions or gunfire, and possible teargas rounds, a suspect exited a home about 3:03 p.m. and surrendered peacefully as a police dogs came to his side.